My problem is that it is a MkIII in the bad serial #s. It was sent in as soon as I got it but I can't tell they did anything to it. I've read through everything available and bought every other book available out there. It shoots Mad Duck's 500L fine but has no reach with the 100-400. I shot it on several dog hunts this season and just could not get it to focus. It will focus on something still but even dogs barely moving it will miss the focus on. I have tons of shots from it with the focus point dead on a dog's eye and nothing is in focus...not front focus...not back focus. The only thing I can tell is if there is any object in front of the subject not even close to the focus point...a stick or another dog...nothing will be in focus.
I'm sending it back to Canon next week...I have 3 more months on the original warranty...and if it doesn't get fixed then...it will find its way to Craig's List.

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Remember that every time you send a body into Canon that the techs set it back to default settings. I just finally got my Mark IIN back to where I want it after the shutter replacement. Have to tried setting the AF to "expand"?

I tried several there...there are too many options actually with poor explanation...but most of the wildlife people were shooting with 9 point expansion and the left and right. Then most of the BIF people were saying to leave it on center point only...that it was actually a fairly large focus point. (Shooters from FM). I even contacted Scott and the gang up there that were still shooting the body to try and get their settings and they told me what books from Canon to use to set things up.
I shot a rabbit hunt a few weeks back...now this is coming from shooting a 30D and 40D on bird hunts with no CFs set up in those 2 bodies and able to shoot through brush with no problems to get an eye in focus. Anyhow...took the 1D on a rabbit hunt using the 24-105, and with the beagles right in front of me sniffing the ground...nothing was in focus...couldn't even pick out a place in the leaves in front of or behind that was in focus. I ended up shooting in MF....and I got a terrible eye...but at least a few were in focus. Then I did a shoot with the 70-200 on my pooch in the snow...got about 10% that were in focus good enough to salvage some shots. And actually it seems the camera is getting worse. I shot some high ISO stuff over the past few weeks that I just could not get the noise out of and when I first got the camera I shot a dance recital entirely in 1600 and didn't have to touch a shot...nearly the entire thing was in terrible lighting too...almost dark.
I will admit that this is 100 times more difficult to shoot than an xxD body...because you do have to set up absolutely everything on it...but heck...learning is half the fun...I didn't realize how lazy a shooter I was!
Looking back at my 10D images...I really wish that camera had micro adjust on it. Mine back focused a bit at times...maybe just the big lens though...the one Canon completely rebuilt when I sent it in for calibrating...but those images coming from that sensor were really nice. I like the far better functions of the newer bodies though...something I could really tell a big difference with!

30D RAW resized with no sharpening, SIGMA 70-200mm F2.8 MACRO, with this lens, I've noticed quite vivid fringing and it gets worse with really bright lighting. In normal light, I've shot it and a Canon 70-200L side by side and you couldn't tell which was which.

1D III here is an example...I had a quail hunt to shoot...so I wanted to test my settings...so I take a dummy out back and throw it for the dogs...70-200. A sequence of 8 shots...here is #2...it hits

5 shots later the dog is in full gear and coming by me...I get the focus point a bit off his nose...into the shadow of his ear, and the camera looses focus...but nothing is in focus.

And that is the sort of thing that irritates me. Almost makes me think the thing runs through a sensor clean in the middle of everything...you would think that if the focus gets off a bit, at least something would be in focus. The actual hunt went much the same way...shooting a hunt there are going to be many things between you and the subject...and the camera won't hit focus worth a hoot. I really wish the camera had a micro focus point like the 7D has...then I could shoot between brush and hit the dog. It is going to take some learning for sure...you can't be lazy with this body, you have to think through the shoot before it happens and set it up for the possibilities...and hope for the best. It would be nice if there was a button you could quickly switch to your other CF settings. I could see having 2 BIF settings...one for birds in the sky and one for birds in busy backgrounds...one for my theater stuff, one for dogs in busy fore and backgrounds. The answer is 2 bodies set up differently...one maybe using the single focus point and the other using multiple points.

It would be nice if there was a button you could quickly switch to your other CF settings. I could see having 2 BIF settings...one for birds in the sky and one for birds in busy backgrounds...one for my theater stuff, one for dogs in busy fore and backgrounds. The answer is 2 bodies set up differently...one maybe using the single focus point and the other using multiple points.

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I don't know that body but, I'm sure you can do that. Look into "registering camera user settings" You can do this with the 40D,50D,7D and I'm sure with the 1D III to.

You can register the settings, but it is registered as CF sets. You can save them to your SD card and then access them through the menu...but it takes several steps to get there...not like setting up the user settings on the xxD bodies. THe neat thing about those CF sets...if you get a set that really works well with a particular type of shoot...you can actually send those sets to different photographers as a saved file, they can download the file onto their CF card...and then load your settings into their camera and use them just by going through the menu and loading the file.